Equality and Diversity

Equality and diversity are essential to achieve our vision of enabling all local people to enjoy the best possible health.

Equality is about making sure that individuals and groups are treated fairly and equally when it comes to accessing NHS services.

Diversity is about recognising and respecting the differences between individuals and groups and their healthcare needs.Since April 2011, the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) has placed a number of requirements on all public authorities to ensure equality and diversity. As commissioners, we will:

eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation

improve equality of opportunity

build good relationships

The duty recognises a number of protected characteristics. These are:

disability

age

race (including ethnic or national origins, colour or nationality)

sex

sexual orientation

religion or belief (including no belief)

gender reassignment

pregnancy and maternity

marriage and civil partnerships

We know how important it is for every resident of North West Surrey to have equal access to NHS services. We invest a huge amount of time engaging with the diverse communities across the local area to ensure the services we commission are accessible to all.

We will be monitoring how we perform against the duty and reporting on this in our annual report.